FOES AND WOES

CHAPTER II : EVENING AT HUNGRY BEES'

I climbed out of the car. Mr. Derving shut his Charger and told me to go round the cliff and climb up the stairs. He went somewhere else (probably to buy something). I walked round the cliff. I got a good view of the house this way. Apex was close by me. He once tried to climb the cliff but fell down. I picked him up and walked more. Once around, I saw stone staircase leading up to the front of the house. The stone was cracked and moss was growing out of it. After looking at it for long enough, I realised that the thing was not moss, it was a bunch of mushrooms growing all over the place. I felt that this was something which an Atlas should tell about. I climbed up the staircase. Apex jumped out of my hands.

I noticed that the door was white and made of wood. I knocked the door. This was my first encounter with Jake Derving. He was a good looking boy, the same height as me. I wasn't sure if he was my age. He had black hair and sharp eyes. He was wearing a shirt that said Pressure and heat makes diamonds.

"Hello?"

"Hello, I am Aiden Cormac."

Jake looked behind into his house. He was probably nervous because when he turned back to face me he looked like that. He was fiddling with his fingers.

"Myself Jake Derving....." Jake after saying this, went inside his house. After a minute or so, his mother came and was pretty happy to see me.

"Hello Aiden, why don't you come in?" Mrs. Derving was a tall woman and had brown hair. She had British accent as compared to Mr. Derving's Scottish accent (and we are in Ireland). I entered the house. It felt like it was way more warmer inside but I didn't see any fireplace inside. Mrs. Derving went to the kitchen while she told me to sit on the sofa. The room in which I was, was really big. It had some lime-green sofas in one corner while there was a large table in the middle. There were stairs by the other side leading up and down to the first floor and the basement respectively.

There was an arc on the right side of the wall leading to the kitchen and the ceiling had no fans. The floor was made of stone for some reason. There was a navy blue carpet on the floor. Some red curtains on the windows in the back wall and a cabinet that had various things such as - a vase that had intricate art on it, a telescope (this was pretty big), a diamond (believe me) and a long spear. I had little interest in these things.

Mrs. Derving came in with a jar of hot coco, and poured some in a glass and gave it to me. I thanked her and began gulping the drink. I was gazing outside one of the windows. I felt that it was lonely. As I thought this, a girl came running down the stairs. She resembled Jake and was a little shorter than him. She was Lilly Derving. She had brown hair like her mother but was not too tall, nor too short. "Hello!" she waved at me and went in the kitchen. She then returned with some hot coco and sat on the sofa in front of me. "You?"

"Aiden Cormac"

"I am Lilly. You here for?"

"A documentary!"

"I can help you with that!"

I felt she was trying to show-off her studious abilities. Jake came in a little later and joined us. It was a cosy environment in here. I kept my glass on the table after finishing it.

"You want more?" Jake asked. "Thank you!" He poured more into my glass. All this time, I had forgotten about Apex. I got up and began to look for him in the room. This is awkward as you can not go to someone's house and start searching it for something they haven't seen. "What are you finding?" Lilly asked.

"My dog...." I said while still roaming around the house. When I stopped, I saw Jake look at Lilly. "I think Bruno ate him....." he said. "What??"

I looked at Jake. My heart fell down a few inches. Who let Bruno have that piece of cake? Lilly laughed and said that they were joking. Jake then shouted "Bruno!". His voice was steady and his voice had become coarser when he said that. A wild dog thrice the size of Apex came running from the Kitchen. The dog barked and ran towards Jake. Jake cuddled with the dog. I felt like I was being ignored for a second but then both of them helped me find Apex. We found Apex outside the house munching on the mushrooms. I was informed that the mushrooms weren't poisonous.